We are extremely proud and excited to share in the kick-off of our Family Court candidate’s press conference this morning. Below is a copy of the press release we wanted to share with you. We hope you learn more about our candidates and their historic campaigns and support them. You can sign up HERE to volunteer to and stay in touch on their campaigns. Thank you!

April 9th, 2018 (Rochester, NY) – MCDC Chairwoman JamieRomeo, along with other Democratic Leaders and community members, proudly announced the historic candidacies of Ms. Zuleika Z. Shepard, Esq. and Ms. Fatimat O. Reid, Esq. for Monroe County Family Court today. Running for two open seats on Family Court, if elected these women will be the first women of color to be elected to Family Court.

Zuleika Shepard is an experienced trial attorney, currently serves as a Deputy County Attorney for the Monroe County Law Department on behalf of assignors in paternity and child support cases in Family Court. Prior to that, Ms. Shepard served as an Assistant District Attorney at the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted hundreds of domestic violence cases and thousands of misdemeanor and violation cases throughout Monroe County. Ms. Shepard also served as Staff Attorney for the Capital District Women’s Bar Association: The Legal Project, where she represented women in domestic violence cases in Supreme Court, helping them to obtain divorces from batterers, and in Family Court, representing them in child custody and support, and family offense cases. Over the course of her career, Ms. Shepard has litigated approximately 320 criminal, civil, or family court trials or hearings, 270 of which ended in a decision or verdict, and 15 of which were jury trials.

“I am running to bring a much- needed perspective to the bench. I can relate to many of the litigants and children who appear in Family Court. I was raised in a single parent home in the city of Rochester. My family lived “paycheck to paycheck.” I have sat in the same city school classrooms and walked the same neighborhoods as many of the children. I can understand the struggles that many of the urban youth face and I want to be able to show them that they can make it.” Zuleika Shepard stated.

Fatimat Reidis a seasoned litigator, transactional attorney, and administrator who presently serves as Chief of Staff of the Rochester City School District. Before being promoted to Chief of Staff, Ms. Reid worked as an Associate Counsel in the Rochester City School District’s Department of Law, managing the district’s contracts and litigation. Ms. Reid previously served as a Municipal Attorney for the City of Rochester Corporation Counsel’s Office, overseeing the City’s contracts and litigation. Ms. Reid began her career as a litigation associate in private practice, working at the firms of Davidson Fink LLP and Wolpoff & Abrahamson LLP. Fatimat Reid received the 2013 “Top Counsel Award” from the Daily Record, the 2017 “Top Women in Law Award” from the Daily Record and the 2017 “40 Under 40” Award from the Rochester Business Journal. She was recognized in February 2018 as a “Woman to Watch” by the Democrat and Chronicle.

“I am motivated by the Nigerian proverb “Ìlú tí a bá rè là ḿbá pé (Do not leave your people behind),” says Fatimat Reid. “While I was born in New York, I was raised in Nigeria and immigrated back to the United States at the age of ten, where I became the subject of a Family Court custody action and spent time in foster care. I had limited English proficiency and no exposure to American culture. I have a firsthand understanding of how frightening and frustrating the Family Court process can be for children and families, especially those who are particularly vulnerable due to poverty or their minority or immigrant status. We need judges on the bench who can bring their first-hand experiences into the courtroom to ensure that each child that comes before that court will have confidence that their best interests are taken in every decision.

It has been over thirty years since a candidate of color was elected to any Monroe County judgeship, whether for Family Court, County Court, or State Supreme Court. MCDC is focused on making the higher courts of Monroe County more reflective of the litigants and general community served by those courts because diversity is a core tenet of New York’s Court System, and critical to the fair administration of justice. Diversity is also a core tenet of MCDC. When elected, Ms. Shepard and Ms. Reid will be the first African American women ever to serve on Monroe County Family Court. Both Ms. Shepard and Ms. Reid have been rated “highly qualified” by MCDC’s Judicial Selection and Screening Committee.

Yesterday Louise’s office released more detailed information on her funeral services, which is below. MCDC operations will be closed on Wednesday, March 21st at 1 pm, Thursday, March 22nd at 3 pm and all day Friday, March 23rd.

Thank you for your consideration during this difficult time. We will be open for normal business hours on Monday, March 26th at 9 am.

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) today released details of the funeral arrangements honoring the congresswoman, who passed away early Friday morning surrounded by family at George Washington University Hospital.

The Slaughter family will receive members of the community during calling hours on Wednesday, March 21st from 2pm-7pm ET and Thursday, March 22nd from 4pm-8pm ET at Miller Funeral and Cremation Services (3325 Winton Road South, Rochester, NY 14623). Press will not be allowed to enter the funeral home but can be positioned outside the facility as appropriate. For directions or to submit an email message of condolence, please visit http://millerfuneralandcremationservices.com/.

The funeral service celebrating the life of the congresswoman will be held on Friday, March 23rd beginning at 11am ET at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (the corner of Main and Gibbs Streets, Rochester, NY, 14604). The service will be open to the public as seating allows. For information on parking, click here.

In lieu of flowers, the Slaughter family requests the public consider a memorial contribution to The Louise & Bob Slaughter Foundation. The new foundation will support the causes and communities that were important to the late congresswoman and her husband. Donations can be mailed to The Louise & Bob Slaughter Foundation at 14 Manor Hill Drive, Fairport, NY 14450.

Slaughter was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Robert “Bob” Slaughter, Jr. She is survived by her three daughters, Megan (Richard) Secatore, Amy Slaughter, and Emily Robin (Michael) Minerva, seven grandchildren, Lauren and Daniel (Erin) Secatore, Emma and Jackson Clark, and Mason, Linus, and Ione Minerva, and one great-grandchild, Henry Secatore.

Slaughter’s full biography is available here and her most recent portrait is available here. For additional details about the congresswoman’s accomplishments, click here.

It is difficult to put in words the loss our community has suffered today. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter was a living icon for women from all walks of life who wanted to get off the sidelines and make positive change in their community. As soon as we have information on arrangements we will share that with you.

From the Congresswoman’s Office:

Statement on the Passing of Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter

March 16, 2018

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC — Liam Fitzsimmons, chief of staff to Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-25), announced that the congresswoman passed away early this morning surrounded by family at George Washington University Hospital after sustaining an injury in her Washington, DC residence last week. Slaughter rose to become the first woman to chair the powerful House Committee on Rules since it was formally constituted on April 2, 1789, and was serving as its ranking member. She was a relentless fighter for families in Monroe County and across the nation, and authored the landmark Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, among many other accomplishments. Slaughter, 88, was the dean of the New York congressional delegation, serving her 16th term in Congress.

“To have met Louise Slaughter is to have known a force of nature. She was a relentless advocate for Western New York whose visionary leadership brought infrastructure upgrades, technology and research investments, and two federal manufacturing institutes to Rochester that will transform the local economy for generations to come. As the first chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Louise blazed a path that many women continue to follow. It is difficult to find a segment of society that Louise didn’t help shape over the course of more than thirty years in Congress, from health care to genetic nondiscrimination to historic ethics reforms. The Slaughter family is incredibly grateful for all the support during this difficult time. Details on funeral arrangements will be provided when they are available,” said Fitzsimmons.

Slaughter was born in Harlan County, Kentucky and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and a Master of Science degree in Public Health. After graduate school, she and her husband, Robert “Bob” Slaughter, moved to the village of Fairport, New York. She and Bob were married for 57 years, until his passing in 2014. Together they had three daughters, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Slaughter’s full biography is available here and her most recent portrait is available here.

She was elected to Congress in 1986. Prior to that, Slaughter served in the New York State Assembly from 1982 to 1986 and the Monroe County Legislature between 1976 and 1979. While holding elected office, she was regional coordinator to Mario Cuomo from 1976 to 1978 while he served as secretary of state and from 1979 to 1982 while he served as lieutenant governor.

Slaughter delivered results for Monroe County, securing major infrastructure investments, bringing high-tech companies to Eastman Business Park, and working to make Rochester a national leader in advanced manufacturing. She secured two federal manufacturing institutes for Rochester over three years: Slaughter led a more than three-year effort to create the federal photonics institute and to ensure that Rochester became the consortium’s national headquarters. After another vigorous Slaughter lobbying effort, she then announced in 2017 that an RIT-led consortium won a competition by the U.S. Department of Energy to headquarter a new public-private clean energy manufacturing institute.

The new Rochester train station was made possible by more than $18 million in Slaughter-secured funding, including a $15 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration through the highly competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program. She also spearheaded reconnecting Rochester by filling in the Inner Loop, securing nearly $20 million for the project. This includes a $17.7 million TIGER grant secured in August of 2013 to bring the Eastern section of the Inner Loop to grade. The grant was the third largest TIGER grant in the nation at that time.

For ten years, Slaughter’s congressional district included portions of Orleans, Erie, and Niagara Counties. She secured funding for the new Niagara Falls train station and delivered on critical environmental protections for the cities of Niagara Falls, Lewiston, Tonawanda, and Buffalo. Slaughter, longtime co-chair of the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force, led the multi-year effort to secure more than $1.2 billion for Great Lakes preservation and restoration. A former blues and jazz singer, she was co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus and championed numerous arts and cultural initiatives throughout her career.

In 2006, after learning that 80 percent of Americans killed in the Iraq War due to upper body wounds could have survived with adequate body armor, Slaughter started years-long effort to improve body armor safety standards. In 2009, she secured the recall and replacement of 16,000 pieces of unsafe body armor from the front lines. Her effort led to improved armor testing protocols and ended the practice of outsourcing testing to private companies.

Slaughter worked tirelessly in Congress to hold elected officials and other public servants to the highest ethical standards. In 2006, Slaughter authored the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, one of the most important ethics bills in a generation. This law bans insider trading and dramatically increases transparency for federal officials, including members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, and the president of the United States. After her six year fight and a groundswell of public support following a 60 Minutes investigation, the legislation was passed and signed into law on April 4, 2012. She went on to introduce legislation to reform the ethics guidelines for Supreme Court justices and bring transparency to the political intelligence industry.

The only microbiologist in Congress, Slaughter authored the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), leading the bill for fourteen years before it finally passed Congress and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008. With the passage of GINA, individuals no longer have to fear their health insurance premiums skyrocketing or their boss making hiring or firing decisions based on a genetic predisposition to a condition they may or may not ever develop. The late Senator Ted Kennedy described GINA as “the first civil rights act of the 21st century.”

Slaughter also introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act to prevent a nightmarish post-antibiotic future by saving eight critical classes of antibiotics from being routinely fed to healthy animals, reserving them only for sick humans and sick animals. She sponsored this legislation for the past four terms in office and was responsible for consumer education that has led to increased corporate responsibility. Slaughter continued to rail against the bipartisan failure to take the bold action necessary to save antibiotics and considered it her primary unfinished legislative business.

Throughout her time in Congress, Slaughter also fought to ensure equal access to quality education for all Americans. In one of her first major actions as a member of Congress, Slaughter helped ensure that the McKinney-Vento Homeless Housing Assistance Act, the first federal law regarding homelessness, did not neglect children. She ensured that homeless children could continue to attend the same schools even if their family moved to a shelter out of the school district. This law helps 2,440 kids in Monroe County and 148,215 across New York State.

As one of the longest-serving women in the House of Representatives, Slaughter was a prominent voice for women and diversity. She was the co-chair and founding member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, which works to promote reproductive health and protect a woman’s right to choose. Slaughter wrote and successfully fought for the passage of legislation that guarantees women and minorities are included in all federal health trials, established the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and secured the first $500 million in federal funding for breast cancer research at the NIH.

Slaughter also co-authored the landmark Violence Against Women Act, which has helped reduce cases of domestic violence by 67 percent since 1994. She championed reauthorization campaigns and recently stood with local advocates and law enforcement to urge the Republican Congress to swiftly pass an extension that includes expansive protections.

On January 12, 2007, Slaughter called to order her first meeting of the Committee on Rules as chair. At the time she said, “This is an important body, one charged with upholding the standards of our House and ensuring that the will of the American people is done here. It is a big responsibility, but I know that we are ready for it.” During the 110th Congress, Slaughter helped House Democrats pass more than 230 key measures, more than 70 percent of which had significant bipartisan support. The 111th Congress was heralded as “one of the most productive Congresses in history” by congressional scholar Norman Ornstein.

As chairwoman from 2007-2011, Slaughter was able to bring key pieces of legislation to the House Floor for a vote, including a bill that raised the federal minimum wage, the Post-9/11 Veterans Assistance Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Affordable Care Act, the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. A more complete list of accomplishments can be found below.

At the time, President Barack Obama said of Slaughter, “Louise Slaughter has proudly served in Congress for nearly three decades. As Chairwoman of the Rules Committee, she has shepherded landmark legislation like the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery Act, and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act through the House, and millions of Americans are better off because of it.”

Many leaders also shared their admiration for Slaughter, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Their comments are available here.

Slaughter took particular pride in delivering strong constituent services over her three decades in Congress while never losing touch with the people she represented. She continued to live in the same small house in Fairport where she and her husband raised their three children and where she continued to welcome grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Despite all of her accomplishments, she was always fondly known by constituents simply as, “Louise.”

As chairwoman from 2007-2011, Slaughter was able to bring key pieces of legislation to the House Floor for a vote, including:

2007: Brought legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives increasing the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years, giving 13 million Americans a $4,400 raise.

2008: Won passage of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA), a law that Slaughter authored to protect individuals from discrimination by employers or health insurers based on genetic predispositions to health conditions.

2008: Brought legislation to the floor leading to passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act to provide free college education to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

2009: Won passage of the National Women’s Rights History Project Act – after nearly a decade of work with then-Senator Hillary Clinton – as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, authorizing the Votes for Women Trail, an auto route linking historical sites with importance to the struggle for women’s rights and suffrage.

2009: Brought the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the floor of the House of Representatives, which created and saved 3.5 million jobs, gave 98 percent of American workers a tax cut, and began to rebuild American infrastructure.

2009: Brought the Affordable Care Act to the floor of the House of Representatives for an historic vote, expanding and improving health care for Americans.

2010: Won passage of the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act in the wake of the Colgan Air Flight #3407 disaster in the Buffalo area.

2010: Ushered the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2010 to the floor of the House of Representatives, providing large increases in the size of Pell grants, strengthening the Perkins loan program, and drastically lowering interest rates on federally subsidized student loans.

2010: Brought the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to the floor of the House of Representatives, ensuring that unchecked corporate greed will never again bring America to financial collapse.

We know you love Louise as much as we do. We’re asking for your help to show her how much we appreciate her and to send along positive thoughts to her speedy recovery.

MCDC is open to anyone who wishes to stop by our University Ave offices and sign a Get Well card for our Congresswoman. You can also sign a petition or sign up for a shift to volunteer if you have not had the opportunity yet! Feel free to call out offices at (585) 232-2410 or stop by. Our offices will be open til 6:30pm for the next few days, as we plan to mail these out this Friday (3/16).

Thank you for your continued support! Louise is our fighter for Upstate New York, and we thank you for staying with us in this fight.

Hard to believe, but petition season is almost here! Our first day of petitioning will be Tuesday, March 6th.

In New York State, petitions are the first step for candidates hoping to run for elected office. Over the next few weeks, thousands of community members will sign their support for our local leaders to help get their names on the ballot.

Petitioning is also our first opportunity to get fired up for the coming year and reconnect with other Democrats in our neighborhoods. While signing petitions, community members can sign-up to volunteer on campaigns, host a lawn sign, or participate in voter registration drives.

If you’re able to walk door-to-door carrying petitions, please contact your local town or city Democratic Committee leaders or our Operations Director, Henrietta Herriott. We will be putting together our petition-carrying teams over the next few weeks. We’ll start with Congressional petitions in March, then carry statewide and local petitions in June.

For prospective candidates, it’s not too late to run! The deadline to notify us about your intent to campaign for public office is Wednesday, February 28th. Please visit our recruitment page for more information.

To stay up-to-date with important news and events, please sign up for our newsletter.

On Saturday, January 20, the newly-elected County Legislator Howard Maffucci will join Pittsford Town Board Members Stephanie Townsend and Kevin Beckford at Town Talk, an event that gives residents the opportunity to bring questions and concerns to their elected officials.

The event will run from 2-3 p.m. at the Village Bakery on State Street in Pittsford.

Town Talk is part of a larger campaign to give residents more input in the direction of their town.

“There is a lot of direct impact we can make on people’s lives,” said Pittsford Town Board Member Stephanie Townsend in an interview. “I want to bring that kind of engagement with our community and making sure that our town government is serving the diverse needs within the community.”

During January of each year, we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was committed to building communities and a world in which equality for all men and women would be the basis of a just society. In Brighton, we know that diversity is one of our core values, and through our diversity we become a stronger community. Families move to Brighton for many reasons, but one of the primary reasons I hear over and over from new residents in Brighton is that Brighton met their desire to live in a diverse community.

A little more than a year ago, two Brighton neighborhoods woke up to find anonymous fliers in their driveways; fliers that contained racist and anti-Semitic hate speech. Last March, the JCC, in Brighton, which serves thousands of people from every faith and background, was targeted twice by bomb threats.

In response to the anonymous fliers, I invited a number of community members from different races, faiths and backgrounds to meet here at Town Hall to discuss how the community could respond. Out of that meeting, CURB, Community Uprooting Racism in Brighton, was established, and a candlelight march was held to show the solidarity of the Brighton community in support of community diversity. CURB continues to promote diversity and inclusion in Brighton through action and dialogue. In the wake of the JCC threats, we witnessed the leadership of the JCC continuing to open their doors to community members in need of warmth after the severe wind storm and outreach from Brighton’s Islamic Center to the JCC to demonstrate their solidarity as brothers and sisters in our community. In each case, instead of retreating to bunkers of ignorance and fear in response to hate, Brighton responded with love and support.

As a government leader, it is important to me that town government in Brighton also continues to reflect and support the community in which we live and work. We have adopted laws in Brighton to protect the civil rights of members of the LGBTQ community. Whenever possible, we reach out to minority media and community organizations when hiring new employees. We will soon consider local legislation that will prohibit discriminating against renters based on the source of their income. Finally, along with our newest Councilmember Robin Wilt, I will establish a new advisory committee to help establish programs that reflect and support the diversity of Brighton and to assist town government in identifying and implementing new inclusive practices that we can use in our operations. All of these programs and more have made Brighton an inclusive and diverse community and we are committed that your town government also continues to reflect and model that inclusiveness.

In a unanimous vote, the Rochester City Council approved its 2018 agreements with the Xerox International Jazz Festival and Party in the Park.

Both events draw large crowds and are a major boon for the local economy. In 2016, the Jazz Festival alone drew an estimated crowd of 205,000, and has an estimated economic impact of $8 – $10 million. [1][2]

Headliners for the upcoming Xerox International Jazz Festival 2018 include Seal, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, and Alison Krauss, with more of the lineup set to be announced during the spring. [3]

The lineup for Party in the Park is typically announced in May.

“The Xerox International Jazz Festival is one of my favorite local events,” says Monroe County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Jamie Romeo. “It is wonderful to see people from all over the Rochester area coming together with dancing, celebration, and music. I see people of all ages and all walks of life, from the couple who has attended every year since the first festival in 2002, to the wide-eyed child who is taking it all in for the very first time. Rochester’s beloved jazz festival is a testament to what we can achieve when artists, businesses, City leadership, and the Rochester Police Department work together.”

On November 21st, the Pittsford Town Board recognized volunteer groundskeeper Tim Romeo for his outstanding service as the caretaker of Pittsford Cemetery.

Over the last three years, Romeo cleaned and repaired hundreds of headstones, painted fences, and maintained the grounds – all as a volunteer with no paid staff.

“His efforts are an inspiration to others, and his kind and caring greetings, shared freely and frequently as he works, bring warmth and cheer to those he meets,” said Pittsford Supervisor Bill Smith in his commendation. ” . . . [his] efforts have helped maintain the dignity of final repose for the interred.”[1]

Following his commendation at the Town Board, Romeo received a standing ovation.

“Our region is lucky to have such a strong spirit of service and volunteerism,” said Monroe County Democratic Chairwoman Jamie Romeo. “It is people like Tim Romeo who make our hometowns truly feel like home.”